It’s election season, left and right are clamoring for every penny possible to help them win. That means they’re coming for you, and more specifically, they’re coming for your wallet. Hold on to it tightly.
Every election there are people who get filthy rich, or richer, by finding new and creative ways of separating you from your hard-earned money. Campaigns, parties, and Political Action Committees (PACs) spend a fortune trying to get you to give any amount. The campaigns and parties lie, spin, and anything else they think will get them some of your money. (I’ve written about how campaigns do this before. It’s worth revisiting here).
But campaigns have a limit on how much they can raise from individuals, so only so much damage can be done there. Enter the SuperPACs.
There are no limits on how much a SuperPAC can raise from someone, though most donations are small. But even small donations add up.
With creative names like “the committed to” do this or that, usually defend someone or defeat someone else, these groups are money-suckers that get people rich and make little to no difference. More often than not, they don’t do anything but fundraise.
They run TV ads, banner ads, and send direct mail that makes it seem like they are the last line of defense of someone you care about who is being smeared by someone you don’t like. More often than not, they’re a scam.
When the Tea Party movement started it was organic, born out of frustration of the bailouts for irresponsible banks and borrowers being insulated from the consequences of their bad decisions with taxpayer dollars. People were pissed. Others saw opportunity.
Opportunists scrambled to register domain names with “tea party” in them, to set up websites and donation streams to capitalize on the movement. They all claimed to be THE group of the Tea Party. Tens of millions of dollars were raised and people got rich. Not much got done.
Republicans took the House in 2010, some rallies were held around the country, and that’s it. Nothing sustained, nothing lasted. Most of the groups quickly disappeared having accomplished nothing beyond raking in piles of cash. And it was all legal.
Then there are the committees to draft this or that person to run for the House or Senate. These are scams. Either someone is going to run or they aren’t going to run. These secondary committees aren’t going to have any impact on that decision and have nothing to do with the person whose name they’re fundraising off of. They exist to capitalize on name recognition and naive voters. And they work.
There’s an ad running regularly on Fox News about how people have to “stand with President Trump.” They list a phone number and don’t offer much more than standard scare tactics and vague ideas. Out of curiosity, I called the number and listened to their recording.
I thought maybe their message would offer some information about what they were fundraising for, what they’d do with the money. It didn’t. Just a well-known former member of Congress, likely well-paid, reiterating what the ad said.
Then the ask for money. I pressed the number to decline giving and was redirected to another pitch for money – nothing new, just rephrasing the vague pitch. After declining the second time, the computer hung up on me. A week later I got a text asking me to reconsider (which was weird because I didn’t enter my number anywhere or indicate it was a cell phone). They really want my money.
I did some searching online to see what, if anything, this group did, aside from running the ads on Fox. I found a story about how they had to refund people’s donations because they were charging them monthly after giving once. Not the most ringing endorsement.
If you want to support a candidate, give to that candidate. If you want to support a party, give to that party. Secondary organizations are great at collecting money and doing God knows what with it; just ways for unscrupulous people to get rich. Don’t let them do it on your back.
Derek is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.